Mage Tank
Author: Cornman8700
Chapter 48: Enter the Mana-Matrix
I raised my eyebrow at Grotto’s claim.
[I thought improving my stats with training was just some divine fuckery.]
[
]
[Those are different things?]
[
]
I would quickly discover that Grotto was about to devolve into a rudimentary lesson on the physiology of inherently magical creatures.
[
]
[Is that why my soul-sight is so effective at seeing how powerful someone is? I’m seeing the strength of the mana-matrix?]
[
]
[
]
[Sure. Makes sense.]
[
]
[What if you dropped them into a denser mana concentration?]
Grotto gave me a glare.
[
]
That sounded a lot like magical evolution to me. I wondered if there’d been some sort of wizard-Darwin in Arzia, or if I could make that ‘discovery’ and take the credit.
[A
]
[Like the c’thon and the obelisk.]
[
]
[It’s alright bud, you did your best.]
Grotto spun to me and somehow managed to raise an octo-eyebrow.
[
]
[Whoa, now. Aren’t we getting into some of that forbidden knowledge you weren’t willing to give up previously?]
[
]
[Uh-huh. Thanks.]
That sounded like code for “I changed my mind, shut-up,” but whatever helped the little core sleep at night. Or, shut down at night? Go into low-power mode? Did Grotto even rest at all?
[
]
[Which is why there’s a time limit for spending stat points,] I concluded.
[
outside
[
]
[Wouldn’t that also be my divine benefactor?]
[
]
[What’s a celest-]
[
]
I held up my hands in surrender.
[Please continue.]
[
]
I made a series of thoughtful noises as Grotto continued to speak in increasingly technical terms. I was uncertain how I should be reacting to his revelations. My response was honestly a bit muted, but I think I understood what he was saying.
I needed Delve go-juice to get big-strong.
I didn’t have Delve go-juice without Delve.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Something put Delve go-juice inside me to drip-drop over time.
Now I have Delve go-juice without Delve.
Arlo best hero, strongest hero.
[Not to rain on your parade, but does this help us… accomplish something?]
Grotto threw up his feelers.
[
]
[Oh. Uh, hooray?]
[
]
[That feels like a pretty quick one-eighty from what you were just saying. Aren’t new and innovative ways of doing shit a good thing?]
I immediately realized that sounded like something Vlad the Impaler might have said while developing novel ways of driving his enemies before him and hearing the lamentations of their women.
I mean, innovation was usually a good thing, I guess. But innovations discovered and pioneered by Grotto? Maybe not.
I snapped out of my daydream and realized Grotto had been waiting for me to refocus.
[
]
A world of super-Vlads!
[I suppose I can see the downside to that.]
[
]
[You forgot sloth, envy, wrath, and gluttony.]
Might as well give Grotto the entire list of choice sins while he went full fire and brimstone.
[
]
[I don’t… why do you know that?]
[
]
[Both? Never mind, I
why you know that.]
[
]
Maybe more than just my emotions were bleeding over to Grotto through our connection.
[If this is unholy knowledge,] I thought to him, [then why tell me?]
[
]
[But you just said-]
[
other
We
]
[Mm-hmm.]
I mean, Grotto was moving back into the endearing megalomania I’d come to expect from him, but hey, if it helped me kick a few booties, then why not let him fool around with technology that might upset the global balance of power?
As soon as that thought concluded I changed my mind. I absolutely did NOT want Grotto to be in possession of world-altering innovation for use in his diabolical pursuit of globe-spanning domination.
[You haven’t figured out a way to make use of this newfound enlightenment, have you?]
[
]
But then again, if
was the one who was acquiring unlimited powaaa, then it
be ok.
No.
Maybe.
[
]
He stroked his tentacles together in a way that was as sinister as it was cute. It was hard to keep a handle on how dangerous Grotto was in his itty-bitty-cephalopoid form.
[
]
Well, that was disappointing.
I mean, that’s good. He didn’t know how to use it. That was good. Yes.
But disappointing.
[Is that the full report?]
[
]
[You just said yourself that it’s useless with higher stat values, so it’s not much of an advantage to me. I mean, great job and all, but even if you figured it out you’d need to use it on…someone…else… Damn, am I an asshole? You could use it on Xim and Nuralie.]
[
]
[Eh, I mean, Varrin? He got a bit better after the Creation Delve, but it’s Varrin.]
[
]
[The fuck? You’re just saying that because you want to use him.]
[
]
Grotto’s tentacles flailed as he monologued, and I watched him with unease.
[Ok, good talk.] He continued to flail, caught up in his imagined future full of demon-lord level conquest. [If there’s nothing else, I’m gonna go check on our ETA to Arsenal.]
Grotto stopped his flailing, then quickly regained his composure.
[
]
[That locks up any expansion to the Closet. How long do you think it will take to store up enough mana?]
[
]
[Wow, that’s a whole lot more than before!]
[
]
I scratched at my beard, studying the indecipherable symbols still crawling by on the wall-slate.
[Yeah, that’s way too long to get everyone situated with-]
[
]
[Grotto.]
[
]
[Set the obelisk back to expanding the Closet. I need some bedrooms and shit. Maybe a bathroom, or at least a tub.]
The mini-c’thon deflated.
[
]
[Wasn’t that kind of obvious?]
[
]
[Sure, brother. That makes sense.]
I just wanted to take a fucking bath whenever I wanted. I could probably make a tub even bigger than the one they had at the Temple of Creation. A heated swimming pool, maybe, or a Japanese style bathhouse. Yeah, that’s the one. I’d have to figure out how to portal in a hot spring, though.
Another one for The List.
Overall this discussion had been a bit like a fever dream. I’d learned a lot, but wasn’t sure if I should be on board with Grotto’s idea or not. It was also a struggle to manage both my own idiosyncrasies and Grotto’s tendency toward villainous soliloquy while having a coherent dialogue. I needed a damn referee for these chats.
Then again, would anyone I knew have made the conversation
insane?
[I thought improving my stats with training was just some divine fuckery.]
[
]
[Those are different things?]
[
]
I would quickly discover that Grotto was about to devolve into a rudimentary lesson on the physiology of inherently magical creatures.
[
]
[Is that why my soul-sight is so effective at seeing how powerful someone is? I’m seeing the strength of the mana-matrix?]
[
]
[
]
[Sure. Makes sense.]
[
]
[What if you dropped them into a denser mana concentration?]
Grotto gave me a glare.
[
]
That sounded a lot like magical evolution to me. I wondered if there’d been some sort of wizard-Darwin in Arzia, or if I could make that ‘discovery’ and take the credit.
[A
]
[Like the c’thon and the obelisk.]
[
]
[It’s alright bud, you did your best.]
Grotto spun to me and somehow managed to raise an octo-eyebrow.
[
]
[Whoa, now. Aren’t we getting into some of that forbidden knowledge you weren’t willing to give up previously?]
[
]
[Uh-huh. Thanks.]
That sounded like code for “I changed my mind, shut-up,” but whatever helped the little core sleep at night. Or, shut down at night? Go into low-power mode? Did Grotto even rest at all?
[
]
[Which is why there’s a time limit for spending stat points,] I concluded.
[
outside
[
]
[Wouldn’t that also be my divine benefactor?]
[
]
[What’s a celest-]
[
]
I held up my hands in surrender.
[Please continue.]
[
]
I made a series of thoughtful noises as Grotto continued to speak in increasingly technical terms. I was uncertain how I should be reacting to his revelations. My response was honestly a bit muted, but I think I understood what he was saying.
I needed Delve go-juice to get big-strong.
I didn’t have Delve go-juice without Delve.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
Something put Delve go-juice inside me to drip-drop over time.
Now I have Delve go-juice without Delve.
Arlo best hero, strongest hero.
[Not to rain on your parade, but does this help us… accomplish something?]
Grotto threw up his feelers.
[
]
[Oh. Uh, hooray?]
[
]
[That feels like a pretty quick one-eighty from what you were just saying. Aren’t new and innovative ways of doing shit a good thing?]
I immediately realized that sounded like something Vlad the Impaler might have said while developing novel ways of driving his enemies before him and hearing the lamentations of their women.
I mean, innovation was usually a good thing, I guess. But innovations discovered and pioneered by Grotto? Maybe not.
I snapped out of my daydream and realized Grotto had been waiting for me to refocus.
[
]
A world of super-Vlads!
[I suppose I can see the downside to that.]
[
]
[You forgot sloth, envy, wrath, and gluttony.]
Might as well give Grotto the entire list of choice sins while he went full fire and brimstone.
[
]
[I don’t… why do you know that?]
[
]
[Both? Never mind, I
why you know that.]
[
]
Maybe more than just my emotions were bleeding over to Grotto through our connection.
[If this is unholy knowledge,] I thought to him, [then why tell me?]
[
]
[But you just said-]
[
other
We
]
[Mm-hmm.]
I mean, Grotto was moving back into the endearing megalomania I’d come to expect from him, but hey, if it helped me kick a few booties, then why not let him fool around with technology that might upset the global balance of power?
As soon as that thought concluded I changed my mind. I absolutely did NOT want Grotto to be in possession of world-altering innovation for use in his diabolical pursuit of globe-spanning domination.
[You haven’t figured out a way to make use of this newfound enlightenment, have you?]
[
]
But then again, if
was the one who was acquiring unlimited powaaa, then it
be ok.
No.
Maybe.
[
]
He stroked his tentacles together in a way that was as sinister as it was cute. It was hard to keep a handle on how dangerous Grotto was in his itty-bitty-cephalopoid form.
[
]
Well, that was disappointing.
I mean, that’s good. He didn’t know how to use it. That was good. Yes.
But disappointing.
[Is that the full report?]
[
]
[You just said yourself that it’s useless with higher stat values, so it’s not much of an advantage to me. I mean, great job and all, but even if you figured it out you’d need to use it on…someone…else… Damn, am I an asshole? You could use it on Xim and Nuralie.]
[
]
[Eh, I mean, Varrin? He got a bit better after the Creation Delve, but it’s Varrin.]
[
]
[The fuck? You’re just saying that because you want to use him.]
[
]
Grotto’s tentacles flailed as he monologued, and I watched him with unease.
[Ok, good talk.] He continued to flail, caught up in his imagined future full of demon-lord level conquest. [If there’s nothing else, I’m gonna go check on our ETA to Arsenal.]
Grotto stopped his flailing, then quickly regained his composure.
[
]
[That locks up any expansion to the Closet. How long do you think it will take to store up enough mana?]
[
]
[Wow, that’s a whole lot more than before!]
[
]
I scratched at my beard, studying the indecipherable symbols still crawling by on the wall-slate.
[Yeah, that’s way too long to get everyone situated with-]
[
]
[Grotto.]
[
]
[Set the obelisk back to expanding the Closet. I need some bedrooms and shit. Maybe a bathroom, or at least a tub.]
The mini-c’thon deflated.
[
]
[Wasn’t that kind of obvious?]
[
]
[Sure, brother. That makes sense.]
I just wanted to take a fucking bath whenever I wanted. I could probably make a tub even bigger than the one they had at the Temple of Creation. A heated swimming pool, maybe, or a Japanese style bathhouse. Yeah, that’s the one. I’d have to figure out how to portal in a hot spring, though.
Another one for The List.
Overall this discussion had been a bit like a fever dream. I’d learned a lot, but wasn’t sure if I should be on board with Grotto’s idea or not. It was also a struggle to manage both my own idiosyncrasies and Grotto’s tendency toward villainous soliloquy while having a coherent dialogue. I needed a damn referee for these chats.
Then again, would anyone I knew have made the conversation
insane?